Is blasphemy illegal in the United Arab Emirates?
Criminal offense
Blasphemy is a criminal offense punishable by a minimum one-year jail sentence or a fine.
The United Arab Emirates is one of 30 countries classified “Criminal offense” for blasphemy — 56% of the 54 with data.
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Blasphemy law
- Last checked
- 17 September 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Qatar
- Criminal offense Blasphemy is a criminal offense punishable by up to seven years in prison.
- Kuwait
- Criminal offense Kuwait criminalizes insulting religious figures with imprisonment and fines under cybercrime laws.
- Saudi Arabia
- Death penalty possible Blasphemy is a criminal offense punishable by penalties up to the death penalty.
- Yemen
- Death penalty possible Sharia law in Yemen prescribes death as the punishment for blasphemy according to some interpretations.
- Pakistan
- Death penalty possible Blasphemy is a criminal offense in Pakistan that can carry the death penalty.
- Afghanistan
- Death penalty possible Blasphemy is prohibited under Sharia and can be punished by execution, with arrests occurring since 2021.
Other laws in United Arab Emirates
- Apostasy Laws
- Death penalty possible
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Flag Desecration
- Criminal offense
- Conversion Therapy
- No ban
Every law in the United Arab Emirates → · Where is blasphemy illegal? →
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.